Rome - Palazzo Barberini

Pope Urban VIII (Maffeo Barberini), that great builder and art patron, was fortunate in having the two greatest architects of the Baroque period, Borromini and Bernini, available to work for him during his reign (1623-44). The bees which featured in the Barberini coat of arms are found on buildings all over Rome, and so many ancient buildings were destroyed to make room for these new creations that the epigram "Quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini" ("What the barbarians did not destroy was destroyed by the Barberini") became current in Rome.

The palace, rearing high above the Piazza Barberini (entrance in Via delle Quattro Fontane), was begun by Carlo Maderna, with the help of Borromini in 1625 and completed by Bernini 1633. The complex layout of rectangular and oval staircase halls, suites of rooms and state apartments can be more easily appreciated on a plan than on the ground.

The central feature of the palace is the Salone, two storeys high, with a ceiling painting of the "Triumph of Divine Providence" by Pietro da Cortona (1632-39), mainly designed to glorify the Papacy and the Barberini family. In the Palazzo Barberini, modeled on the palaces of northern Italy, the High Baroque found its fullest expression.